Loving Lily: A Snily Story

Chapter 45 - Old Enemies, New Friends?

Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
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As that pleasant summer gradually came to a close, Harriet lamented the short life of the season.

Two weeks before Hogwarts' new term began, Severus and Lily stood together with their children as they all waited in line at Flourish and Blotts Bookseller.

Shopping would have been much quicker that day if Diagon Alley's most popular bookstore hadn't had a special celebrity guest present for a signing.

"Dad?" Harriet whispered as she turned to look up at Severus while Ellery tried to peer through the crowd and see the person whom the many flashing cameras sought to photograph, "Can't we just leave and buy Magical Me some other place?"

"No...." Severus drawled, "As Professor Dumbledore informed me, Gilderoy Lockhart has an exclusive contract for the sale of his latest autobiography with Flourish and Blotts.......There's nowhere else we'll be able to purchase your new textbook until October.....at the earliest."

Harriet huffed irritably as she turned around without another word and scowled ahead.

"I share similar feelings about this entire situation.........in case that notion comforts you at all." Severus whispered in his low drawl.

Harriet didn't turn back around, but she did smirk when she heard her father's quiet confession.

"Sev!" Lily scowled as she elbowed her husband's ribs.

Severus looked over at his darling flower with an incredulous scowl.

"My love," He began, "I beg you not to tell me that you've fallen under that great moron's spell like so many other women?"

"Of course not!" Lily replied in an offended gasp, "Gilderoy Lockhart was in our year, don't you remember? If I didn't fawn over him then, why should I now?"

Severus shrugged slightly as he contemplated Lily's reasonable statement before she went on, "Still, complaining about the wait won't do us any good."

"It's making me feel better, Mum!" Harriet laughed as she glanced over her shoulder at Lily.

Ellery blinked as his father and sister shared silent smirks but Lily tried to smooth over the frustrated anxiousness of the situation, "Look, when we're finished here, why don't we all go across the street and have a bit of ice cream?"

Severus grabbed Lily's hand and gave it a squeeze as Harriet and Ellery eagerly expressed their delight with happy gasps.

The bookshop was crowded, noisy, and all around unpleasant to stand in, but as Severus gazed at Lily, those aggravations melted away.

It didn't matter where he was in the world, as long as he had his darling wife next to him, Severus Snape could find respite.

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Gilderoy Lockhart had relied on his good looks and tales of supposed great deeds to skyrocket himself to an almost legendary level of fame.

Men envied him.

Women longed to be with him, although Severus and Lily remained the exception to that common truth.

Severus had no desire whatsoever to be as flashy or as flamboyant as the pompous wizard that he watched.

A frown of disgust formed on his face as he saw Gilderoy throw smile after fake smile at the plethora of flashing cameras, all greedily capturing his image for news articles.